Standard Disclaimers Apply

Author's Note:
So guys, it is finally the Easter holidays and I have handed in all but my IT assignments. Apart from that, I have two glorious weeks of rest and relawation which is why I can update this story, which is really getting a good response. Thanks to all those who reviewed. I actally got around to making some plans, and to the whole Gaara pairing thing, it will eventually become definate but I thought it would be funnier if he went on random dates with a load of konochi and see what happens from there. These will start happening after the revelation that will take place after the Chuunin exam. Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter three
Getting Back Into the Swing of Things… Almost

It had been three years, three long years since he last saw Konoha and today was the day he would come back. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing. Konoha was looking beautiful. He was glad to be back.

Naruto had been gone for three years and if things were like they were planned, no one would have noticed it. During the first year, Naruto and Gaara had gone and helped each other go through with their demon bonding rituals. Naruto's and Kyubi's chakra were now interchangeable and the link between them had been strengthened.

After that, he and Gaara had travelled for a year and a half taking mercenary jobs to train their new powers and it was heavily successful as proven by the large amount of money they earned. They would have returned six months ago if they hadn't come across a vacation town, which had everything. There were gyms, casinos, bars, ramen stands (for Naruto) and karaoke bars (it was Gaara's one great weakness). Spending some time (and a lot of their money) just not worrying about ninja work they were able to relax, but today would be the day that they had to get back to work.

Naruto snuck into his apartment through the bedroom window and saw his clone packing his backpack. After greeting him, the clone went on to inform Naruto that they had just been given their first C ranked mission.

"Good, good. We can actually get started with the actual plans. Did you go through with what I told you to do or did you forget it?" asked Naruto.

"No sir!" replied the clone while saluting. "When I stole the forbidden scroll, I immediately went to memorising the whole thing. When I am dismissed, all of this should be absorbed into your mind."

"Good, then you are dismissed then." The shadow clone disappeared in a plume of smoke and Naruto went to finish packing his bag. During which, the information for the all kinjutsu that the clone had learned was steadily being absorbed into his mind. According to the clone, he was supposed to meet team seven in an hour so he had better hurry and start to act in character.

An hour later…

"Hi Sakura-chan! Hi Sasuke-teme!" shouted Naruto as his team mates came into view. He was rewarded by a punch in the face by Sakura for calling her 'precious Sasuke-kun' that and a "Shut Up, Dobe!" by Sasuke. Naruto had to admit, besides from the head trauma and the deflation of his ego, he had surely missed this.

Team seven in its early days had their problems but it was their high point. It all started here, with Sasuke's obsession with the killing of his brother and his adamant decision to accept no help from others, and Sakura's infatuation with Sasuke. They had all lead to their demise.

He remembered it very clearly as the memory had etched itself into his nightmares after it happened. He remembered how in the space of one day, he had become the only surviving member of team seven.

"Sakura! He's caught, kill him now!" yelled Naruto lying beneath a large pile of rocks, coughing up blood. He may have been stuck but he was still able to set up traps. Sasuke was now caught in one of said traps and was struggling to break free, but he was an easy kill in that position. Sakura however didn't seem to want to take that chance.

"I, I, I can't do it. It's, it's Sasuke-kun" stuttered Sakura. She had frozen in place standing in front of Sasuke.

"Sakura, he's not the same man you love anymore. He's betrayed us and he's killed our comrades. Kakashi, Ino, Shikamaru, Shino and Hinata; all of them were murdered by him. Don't let him get away with all of that!" shouted Naruto in desperation. They were so close, so close to stop him just to stumble at the finish line. Tears were running down his face as he knew what she would do.

"I can't! I can't kill him!" screamed Sakura, sinking to her knees as Sasuke finally broke free and now stood towering over Sakura.

"Of course, you can't do it. You're weak, and you've always been weak. Those pathetic dreams of yours have always been just that; pathetic. That's why I never loved you." The last thing Sakura saw through teary eyes before death took her, was Sasuke swinging a kunai at her face.

As Sakura's body hit the floor and her blood splattered the ground beside it, Naruto snapped. Sasuke could feel an immense increase of Chakra coming from the direction that he had buried Naruto in earlier and upon looking that way, he was surprised to see Naruto throw off fifty tonnes of rock like they were nothing. The red chakra was covering him again.

"Sasuke. It's all your fault. Everything. It all started with you. I had never broken a promise before I failed to bring you back to the village and ever since then, more and more times have I failed to uphold my promises. I promised on Hinata's grave that I wouldn't let you harm another of my precious people and I have failed again. Now, I see the truth. To truly keep that promise, I have to want to kill you and then I will kill you. This time, I'm keeping my promises."

Sasuke was surprised by the large killer intent that was pouring off of Naruto that was in fact the largest he had ever felt and also by the flecks of black chakra that was forming in his aura as well. He knew about Naruto's powers ever since the battle in the Valley of the End, but what he showed there was nothing compared to what raw power he was showing now, just by standing there. Sasuke took a fighting stance ready for the worst. Apparently, he wasn't prepared enough.

Naruto just disappeared. Not even his Sharingan could detect what had happened and before he knew it he found a large black, burning claw sticking out the front of his chest. The pain was intense, the foreign chakra was invading his body and turning off his chakra coils and stopping living functions. With his mouth spluttering blood, he turned around to see a thing of nightmares. A flaming black monster with four large tails was behind him with its arm imbedded into him. When it spoke, it sent shivers down Sasuke's spine, "I guess you were wrong Sasuke. I am more special than you."

And with that, Sasuke's heart beat its last beat and his brain received its last signal. His final thoughts were 'How could the Dobe beat me? Now I can never avenge my clan.' As Sasuke's corpse fell to the ground to join Sakura's, the black chakra dissipated and left an extremely burnt Naruto. "I did it."

'You sure did.' Naruto looked around franticly for the source of the voice. In his condition, he would be easy prey for enemy ninja. 'Baka! It's me, Kyuubi.'

'What? How are you talking to me? What's going on?'

'What's not important is how. What is important is the fact that you are now worthy.'

'Worthy? What the heck am I worthy of? I just murdered my best friend!'

'But you did it all in the name of others to stop the further harming of the innocents. You have experienced true pain and have accepted the need to kill. You, Kit, have passed the Rites of Passage. You are now worthy of all the powers I am about to give you.'

Naruto only had enough time to understand that before the pain hit him. This was worse than anything he had felt before, even worse than a Chidori through the chest. It lasted for a few moments before it finally subsided.

When his brain functioned normally again after the pain, Naruto found that he could smell the blood much better. He could even distinguish between the two separate scents. His eyesight had improved that he could see clearly a mile away. His hearing was so good; he could hear the individual gusts of wind. All his burns were healed as well. Kyuubi decided to stop his self examination here, 'Kit, take the bodies and go to Tsunade.'

'I can understand taking back Sakura's body. I was going to do that anyways, but why do I have to take back that Teme's body.'

'Because, my young Kit, we are going to need his eyes and I am certain that Tsunade will know exactly how to help us with that…'

Naruto was broken out of his reminiscing by the yell of you're late by Sakura yell of "You're late!" Naruto's blue eyes that hid the powers he had taken from the future Sasuke fell upon Kakashi as he made his way to their meeting point while having his head buried in his perverted novel with their client, Tazuna in tow.

Surprisingly he was only half an hour late and that was probably due to picking up the client. When Kakashi actually looked at his team after putting his book away, his eyebrow rose a bit. "Naruto, did you get taller in the last, I don't know… few hours?"

"No. Why did you ask?"

"Nothing, no reason at all" replied Kakashi casually. 'This is weird. This morning, Naruto was shorter than both Sasuke and Sakura but now he's on par. Something isn't right.'

"Come on, let's go already" whined Naruto. 'Or maybe I was being too paranoid, that definitely sounds like the same Naruto. Maybe he got new sandals or something. It's best not to mention it; I remember how agitated he gets when someone mentions about his lack of height.'

A few hours later…

They had been walking for a while now and the hot weather was making it a lot more unbearable than it should have been. The constant drone of Naruto's voice wasn't making it better either. "So I then had to go to the super market because I found out that the cup ramen I ate for lunch was actually my last. Boy, what a day that was…"

Sakura exploded at this point. "Shut up!" Naruto went quiet and his head hung low and a smile could briefly be seen gracing his lips. 'Ah, just like old times…'

The blond haired genin went on to check his equipment. He had all his kunai, he had quite a lot of shuriken and he had a large bunch of explosive notes on him as well. He took out a 50 pack. "Ah, the good old explosive notes. Small but quite deadly. I would say a necessary ninja tool to-"

He was cut off however when he tripped over a small rock on the path and his face collided with the dirt. His pack of explosive note however, fell out of his hands and travelled quite a distance landing in a puddle that looked really out of place in the scorching heat when it has not rained for days (hint, hint). Said explosive notes exploded.

"NO! Not my explosive notes." He rummaged through his orange jacket and upon finding another pack, he immediately calmed down. "Don't worry guys; I had a spare pack on me. See what a great ninja I am? I am so prepared for anything."

"Baka!" and "Dobe!" were all that could be heard from Sakura and Sasuke as they yelled at him completely ignoring the puddle. Tazuna was shaking his head at this but Kakashi was deep in thought. 'He knew about that puddle. I don't know how but he knew. That was a set up. Who are you really Naruto?'

They all now walked passed the unnoticed puddle which was gradually getting redder and redder. Naruto was grinning to himself. 'That was definitely a job well done. Let's see what else I could do to put them off my track…'

End Chapter Three

Author's Notes:
Okay, hoped you liked it. That was as close as I have ever gone to writing a battle scene and I thought why not go progressively and work myself up to an actual fight instead of a Sasuke killing. In the next chapter, Zabuza attacks and a certain Sharingan user in disguise saves the day. Plus, we get to see one of Naruto's new abilities.

Hoping to write soon,
deranged without glasses